1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for upgrading a device driver, and more particularly, to a system and a method for upgrading a device driver through a network .
2. Description of the Background Art
Development of the Internet has brought many changes with respect to computer programs. In the past, to upgrade a program, a user had to directly install upgrade data to his or her computer, after downloading the upgrade data through a data room provided by a communication company in which a program maker publishes the upgrade data. Currently, however, a user can upgrade a program more easily through the Internet. Programs that allow the user to upgrade through the Internet, include for example a vaccine program V3 and the operating system MICROSOFT Windows. In the case of the V3 program, if a vaccine engine is upgraded, the user is allowed direct access to a server in the Internet through the V3 program, and then the new upgraded engine is downloaded to be automatically installed in the user's computer.
A device driver is distinguished from the above-described general programs. The device driver is a program controlling peripheral units of a computer system, such as a disk unit and a printer, etc. For example, the device driver includes a sound driver controlling a sound card, a graphics driver controlling a graphics card, a mouse driver controlling a mouse and so on. Since these device drivers are closely connected to an operating system of the computer system, being different from the general programs, it is not easy for end users to upgrade them using the Internet.
An earlier technique of upgrading a device driver includes, first, a user connecting his or her computer to an upgrade server, using an Internet-connecting program. After the computer is connected to the upgrade server, the user browses a device driver to be upgraded and downloads it to the computer. The upgrade device driver provided by the upgrade server is provided in a compressed file, in consideration of the speed of transfer and the size of the upgrade file, etc. Thus, the user decompresses the upgrade device driver to be downloaded using a compression program. If the upgrade device driver is decompressed, an install file of the upgrade device driver is generated. Then, the user executes the install file and upgrades the device driver. Finally, when the user reboots up his or her computer, the upgrading process of the device driver is completed.
As described above, because the upgrading of a device driver using the earlier technique is more complicated than that of the general programs, it is inconvenient for an end user to upgrade the device driver.
Exemplars of the art are Korean Patent No. 1999-0061251 issued to Lee, for Network System and Managing Method for a Version Manager Using an Internet and a Local Disk, Japanese Patent No. 8-161250 and European Patent Application EP 0716371A2 to Nakagiri, for Information Processing Apparatus Having Automatic Os Selecting Function, Japanese Patent No. 9-251355 issued to Yoshioka, for Printer, Japanese Patent No. 10-91500 issued to Tatsutaki, for Client/Server System, Differential File down Loading Method in Client/Server System and Storage Medium Storing Program for Differential File down Loading, Japanese Patent No. 10-171634 issued to Yagi, for Information Processing Terminal and Program Updating System, Japanese Patent No. 11-327828 issued to Omura, for Printing Controller, Driver Managing Method for the Same and Storage Medium Storing Program Which Computer Can Read, Japanese Patent No. 2000-10787 of issued to Kudo et al., for Program Down-loading Device and its Method, U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,177 issued to Gase et al., for Printer/Client Network with Centrally Updated Printer Drivers and Printer Status Monitoring, U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,287 issued to Stupek, Jr. et al., for Automatic Computer Upgrading, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,585 issued to Perlman et al., for Automatically Selecting and Downloading Device Drivers from a Server System to a Client System That Includes One or More Devices.